<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Skater Girl by orphan_account</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522536">Skater Girl</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gorillaz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU were the band never took off, Angst, F/F, Im gay and sad so have this, Phase Two (Gorillaz), Tags May Change, This Is Sad, idk man, its 3 am what am i doing, maybe there will be phase 3, pre phase 3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:34:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,231</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a teenager is hard. Being a teenager and in love is harder. Being a teenager, in love AND queer, well... That's gonna be an interesting journey.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Noodle/Original Female Character - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Zombie Movies and Spray Paint</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>2D invites Noodle to watch some zombie movies at his friend's house, and, after going for a walk at the park, Noodle meets a new someone.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As you can see, this here is a better, more polished version of the first chapter. is scary what changing some words can do.</p><p>Enjoy the better chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Noodle ties her shoelaces and grabs her hoodie. </p><p>"I'm off!" she shouts to the men standing in the kitchen</p><p>"Don't forget the maple syrup!" Russel shouts back. I was pancake day, they needed syrup.</p><p>"and the choccy milk!!!" 2D adds. If there is something he likes more than tea, keyboards, and zombie movies, that thing would be choccy milk.</p><p>Russel sighs "and he choccy milk."</p><p>"O-kay!!"</p><p>Noodle is now off to the grocery store, humming one of Stu's tunes. It's kinda hard thinking he and Murdoc didn't go big, their music is amazing!! They seem satisfied just playing late-night gigs in forgotten bars. "It's not really worth the effort anymore." Russel explained to her "We lost our guitarist and you were still too young to play on dirty bars and weird theaters. In the end, you ended up becoming our only hope for a guitarist, and we decided to try and find someone in a more safe way for you, but you already know how that went. The trip to Jamaica ended on just a sad holiday spent on cheap hotels. It was still fun to go play on the beach with you, really brightened our spirits y'know" Russel smiled at Noodle then. A very warm and fatherly smile.</p><p>Noodle decided to stop thinking about that and pay attention to the beautiful Sunday morning. The sky was this greyish blue and the leaves on the trees shined a special green. The birds were chirping and there was this cold breeze ruffling her hair and cooling Noodle's face.</p><p>A lot of the mornings were like that, but Sundays always felt so special, she couldn't help but be glad they had run out of syrup.</p><p>Noodle's mind drifted back to her family.</p><p>She remembers how they met: one day, Noodle simply arrived at their doorstep. Literally. None of them knows where she came from ("probably from Japan" 2D took a "wild guess", Murdoc says)</p><p>The way the others met was quite peculiar too: 2D got into two car accidents caused by Murdoc, resulting in his lack of front teeth, black eyeballs, and brain damage. Murdoc thought he looked pretty cool and "recruited"(kidnapped) him to be in his band, titled 'Gorilla'. Murdoc found Russel working in a record shop and also "recruited"(kidnapped) him for his band. Unfortunately, the band's first song 'Ghost Train' wasn't accepted by any producers, so they decided it was best to just leave it be. Two years later, 2D's girlfriend "broke up with him" (Russel explained everything to her, how she cheated on him with Murdoc and that "D's very sensitive about that, and Murdoc is a dick, so don't touch on the subject, understand?") and they found noodle on their doorstep. She's been with them since.</p><p>Life was very interesting living with them. 2D plays the keyboards and taught her how to play the melodica too, Murdoc is a god playing the bass, and Russel destroys the drums. Noodle also plays the guitar. She doesn't remember learning how to, though.</p><p>"Well, looks like we can still be a band!"</p><p>"Yeah, but nobody likes our sound. So it's pointless!!"</p><p>"C'mon, Mudz, be positive!!"</p><p>That was the first conversation Noodle remembers: Murdoc and 2D fighting. It was pretty scary for a 10 year old to watch, especially for a 10-year old that didn't understand English properly. All words seemed scrambled and confusing, top it off with loud yelling and you've got yourself the perfect "how to scare the kid you found on your doorstep" combo. In the end, they gave having her as their guitarist a try.</p><p>"G'mornin young lady, can I getcha anything?"</p><p>"おはようございます!! Can I have uh, maple syrup and ch-chooki-e milk(?), please?"</p><p>"sure thing!"</p><p>Noodle waited for the cashier, looking around the store. Everything looks beautiful in the cold yellow light, giving off a strange nostalgic vibe.</p><p>"Here ya go, kid. Don't ya think it's time to cut that hair of yours?"</p><p>Noodle took some of her bangs out of the way:</p><p>"no, I like it this way. I have to go now, or I'll be late for breakfast!"</p><p>"bye, kid"</p><p>Noodle walked back to Kong Studios. Even though the graveyard surrounding her house was always so cold and, but it still looked beautiful under the soft blanket made of sunlight.</p><p>She took her shoes off at the entrance and proceeded to walk to the kitchen.</p><p>"I'm back!"</p><p>2D lifted his head from an old magazine and smiled, greeting Noodle</p><p>"Hey Noods! Did yew bring my choccy milk?"</p><p>"yes. Also, how do you say that?"</p><p>2d began talking very slowly, like if he was talking to a little child:</p><p>"choh- khe mm-elk, Choccy milk!"</p><p>Noodle looked at Stu like he had just eaten a whole can of pickles using a shovel. </p><p>"ok, I'll pretend I understand that."</p><p>Russel, who was previously busy at the stove, grabbed two plates full of pancakes and seated next to Noodle at the table.</p><p>"did you bring the syrup too?"</p><p>"yes! here you go Russ-san!"</p><p>They all started to talk about their morning and night before: Noodle talking about her weird dream involving peanut butter and corals,  2D talking about how he couldn't find his melodica and found it on the roof somehow, and Russel talking about the whale documentary he watched before bed (making 2D scared, for some reason).</p><p>They all stopped when a greenish looking man entered the kitchen. </p><p>"G' morning, folks!" Murdoc said with a grin "so we have pancakes today, huh? sorry for being late."</p><p>Russel offered a plate to him, who denied it.</p><p>"got a headache right now, won't be eating for a while"</p><p>"yew want a pill?" Stu offered. He always had one on him, you never know when you might need one.</p><p>"Yeah, give it here" Murdoc took the pill with some coffee he had just made and leaned himself on the kitchen sink.</p><p>"Last night was rough. Had to play more songs than usual."</p><p>"Yeh, I woke up wif a sore throat and feeling dizzy."</p><p>Russel nodded "and that guitarist was horrible. where did you find him, Mudz?"</p><p>"Gah, I don't know! Found him in a pub, something like that."</p><p>Murdoc got back into drinking his coffee and Russel to eating his pancake, after that.</p><p>"oh! I almost forgot!" 2D looked at Noodle "I and a friend are having a movie party, wif zombie movies, popcorn, and stuff like that.  I asked him if I could bring someone and he said it was ok, do yew wanna come?"</p><p>Noodle looked at Russel almost immediately. He was responsible for her and she wouldn't be going anywhere before he knew where it was.</p><p>"sure, man. Just keep her safe, 'k ?"</p><p>Noodle smiled "thanks, Russ-san!"</p><p>And they all went about their day.</p><p>________________________________________________________________________________</p><p>Noodle was now sitting in her room, playing random tunes on her guitar.</p><p>"maybe if I put-"</p><p>Dm, Am, Gm, Am</p><p>"That sounds nice..."</p><p>The lyrics were still half-made, but Noodle didn't mind</p><p>(Dm)Windmill, windmill (Am)for the land,</p><p>(Gm)Turn forever, (Am)hmm hmm hmm,</p><p>(Dm)Windmill, windmill, (Am)salad salad,</p><p>(Gm)huum huhuhu (Am)huuuummm </p><p>noodle sighed "I need better lyrics...."</p><p>knock knock</p><p>a cracky muffled voice could be heard from outside the door:</p><p>"Noods? The movie party is in 'bout 30 minutes, yew should start getting ready!"</p><p>It was 2D, warning her about the party.</p><p>"okee!!"</p><p>Noodle started to look for her jeans and striped shirt. She loved that shirt, and jeans were the best option.</p><p>________________________________________________________________________________</p><p>later that day:</p><p>2D wasn't allowed to drive (he didn't have a license and Russel didn't think letting him get near a car was a good idea), so they walked to the friend's house.</p><p>" he's a very nice fella, you'll see. He likes zombie movies and keyboards, jus' like me! Well, he prefers the bass, but he still really likes keyboards."</p><p>After the introductions (his name was Ace, and he was), they went in and watched the movie. It was pretty nice but the plot was too shallow and basic, just like almost every other zombie film. Stu loved it, and so did his friend.</p><p>After some time, the food ended and so did their topics to talk about, so, to keep the conversation running, Ace invited them for a walk.</p><p>"I know this nice park near here, and-"</p><p>Noodle stopped listening to Ace and 2D's ramblings and decided to contemplate how she wanted a lollypop.</p><p> When they got there, Ace got some spray bottles out and with a bold "let's make this park pretty" invited 2D to do some artwork on an empty wall.</p><p>Noodle found herself bored with the whole spray thing (2D wrote 'banch' under a bench and the two were still laughing at that) and let her feet take her to wherever.</p><p>Now she was at the skatepark dangling her legs on the highest ramp they had.</p><p>"I thought we would watch the movie and then go home. If I knew we would stop at the park, I'd have brought my game-boy," she mumbled to herself.</p><p> </p><p>Some time passed and she decided it was time to try and find the two dumbasses. She was just leaving when skate wheels started to be heard.</p><p>She stopped and looked around. A person! A skater boy? And they look about the same age as her too! Oh man, she was finally going to make a friendship outside school!</p><p>But then there was something else other than skate wheels sound. Sobbing?</p><p>oh, that's why they're here...</p><p>Noodle got closer, and with enough courage, said:</p><p>"Hey, you alright?"</p><p>The skater seemed to panic a little and almost fall before wiping their nose and looking to the other side of the park.</p><p>"'m fine." their voice trembled. they weren't fine.</p><p>Noodle stood there for 3 seconds and decided that the skater was going to be her new friend.</p><p>"My name's Noodle, はじめまして!!"</p><p>".... I beg your pardon, what?"</p><p>"Ah sorry, you don't speak Japanese, nice to meet you!"</p><p>"...ok.." they looked a bit weirded out, but that's ok, Noodle was ok with that.</p><p>"my name's Mary, but you'll call me M."</p><p>"M?" Noodle looked at the girl in front of her. Faded green hair, a T-shirt on top of a loose long-sleeved shirt, old-looking jeans, and simple skater shoes. Her face was red (probably from crying, Noodle thought) and her brows were bushy ("Like 2D's, but prettier"). Her face held an angry-sad expression.</p><p>"Can I call you Green?"</p><p>"why?"</p><p>"Your hair, it's pretty green."</p><p>She seemed to hesitate for a second, before agreeing with Noodle.</p><p>"k, you can call me green."</p><p>"then it settles. I'll call you Green, you call me Noodle."</p><p>"ok, but what's your real name?"</p><p>"Noodle."</p><p>"But..."</p><p>"I know it's weird but my parents are weirder"</p><p>"oh ok"</p><p>Silence.</p><p>"....can you tell me why were you crying?"</p><p>"..."</p><p>More silence. Noodle noticed how Green looked uncomfortable and decided to just leave it alone.</p><p>"..ACTUALLY nevermind, do you want to, uh, maybe...."</p><p>Noodle had to learn more about Green, she looks like she's in need of a friend!! Well, maybe Noodle's blowing it out of proportions... BUT she couldn't just give up on someone like that. so it settles.</p><p>"I have a friend who has some spray paint, wanna paint some walls?"</p><p>Green looked at the floor for a moment, like if she was considering her options.</p><p>"sure"</p><p>Noodle smiled. Now she just needed to find 2D.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm so sorry for any British people reading this.</p><p>Noodle's Japanese words:</p><p>1-おはようございます: Good morning<br/>2-はじめまして: nice to meet you</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Phone Numbers and Chinese Food</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Noodle and green have some fun spray painting, Chinese food is family food.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm finally updating this lmao, I'm so sorry</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Noodle was feeling awkward. Too awkward. She’s not the type of person to feel awkward, so this is new. Green was also too quiet, like if she doesn’t want to be there. And that made Noodle feel horrible.</p><p>Eventually, they found them, near the ‘banch’ bench, 2D visibly panicking. He was walking up and down the empty park, one hand on each side of his head.</p><p>“Aw, Russ’s gonna kill me! What am I supposed to do now that-”</p><p>“Toochie!” Noodle shouted, scaring Green, and getting Stu’s attention.</p><p>“Noods! Oh my god, I thought yew were lost...”</p><p>2D hugged Noodle with a relieved sigh. After releasing herself from the hug, No</p><p>“Toochie, this is Green. We met at the skatepark.”</p><p>“ElloGreen! I’m Stuart, but yew can call me 2D.”</p><p>“Do you all have weird names? Is that like, your thing?”</p><p>“something loike that.” 2D smiled at the newly met girl. Thankfully, he still had his sunglasses on, so she wasn’t that weirded out by him.</p><p>“Toochie, can we do some graffiti too? pleeeease??”</p><p>“ah, sure thing Noods! Jus talk to Ace over there- OI ACE!”</p><p>Ace was leaning on the ‘blank wall’ from before, except it wasn’t as blank as before: the wall had about five graffiti drawings and other things scribbled here and there. </p><p>“WHAT!!” Ace yelled back;</p><p>“DO YEW STILL HAVE SOM SPRAY PAIN LEFT!!?!”<br/>
They weren’t even that far away from each other, the shouting was just for the sake of screaming.</p><p>“YEAH, I THINK SOME!! LEMME CHECK- YEAH WE GOT BLACK AND PURPLE!!!”</p><p>“OK, FANKS!! Ok girls, jus go there wif him and ask for the- GAH!!”</p><p>A spray bottle came flying over them, hitting 2D right in the face.</p><p>“ACE WHAT THE FU- uh, FUN!!” 2D looked back at his friend, rubbing his forehead, tears starting to form in his eyes from the pain.</p><p>“WHAT’D YEW DO THAT FO’?!!?? IT HURTS SO MUCH NOW, BLOODY HELL...”</p><p>“OH SORRY I THOUGH YOU’D CATCH IT!!” Ace shrugged. Yep, they had one too many drinks back home.</p><p>“I WASN’T EVEN LOOKING AT YEW ANYMORE!!“</p><p>Noodle heard a muffled giggle coming from her side and noticed how Green seemed to be struggling not to laugh.</p><p>“He’s funny when angry, isn’t he? You don’t know how many times I got in trouble for laughing at him when he’s like that.”</p><p>Green stopped and covered her mouth</p><p>“Sorry, it was an accident...”</p><p>“no-no, it’s fine, he is a funny lad”</p><p>She grabbed the spray can and, ignoring the two men fighting, headed over to a blank wall.</p><p>Noodle smiled and looked at Green:</p><p>“let’s paint some stuff!”</p><p>Green smiled back: “ok!”</p><p>_________________________________________________________________________</p><p>The rest of the evening went on pretty smoothly, with the girls painting band names and doodling with the spray paint and the guys sitting down and talking.</p><p>the fight got a little too heated, and they ended up throwing punches at each other, and the outcome of that wasn’t very pretty: Ace got a black eye and 2D a bloody nose.</p><p>In the end, they both apologized and bought each other a can of beer (which they used to numb the area around their injuries), so everything was cool.</p><p>They only decided to go somewhere else when it started to get dark (and an old lady threatened to call the police on them).</p><p>“Oh! I almost forgot! Do you have a phone?” Noodle asked Green.</p><p>“Yeah, do you want my number? So we can um, text each other?”</p><p>“Yeah, I don’t have MSN.” Noodle shrugged. </p><p>“oh me either, my mom won’t let me. Ok, here’s my number...”</p><p>After they exchanged numbers and said their goodbyes, Noodle went home.</p><p>“I’ll call her tomorrow, after school. Isn’t it fun? to meet new people?” </p><p>“Yeh, that’s how we met” he pointed at Ace “I was walking in the park and he jumped out to rob me, but then I gave him a glass of water and we are friends now.”</p><p>“It wasn’t exactly like that but yeah, that’s how we met!” Ace added.</p><p>“you have an American accent...” Noodle pointed out, then gasped “You are American??”</p><p>“Yeah, I came from Townsville. Great city, is just that it’s been kinda hard to get by over there, so I decided I’d live here. There are no annoying little flying girls here.”</p><p>Noodle turned to 2D, a confused look on her face.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it he talks about that randomly sometimes” he shrugged.</p><p>_________________________________________________________________________</p><p>After getting home, 2D went out again with the excuse that “It’s still early, I’m want to enjoy the rest of my weekend” and left with Ace.</p><p>Noodle ate dinner with Murdoc and Russel (Chinese food, a Sunday night classic), and, like your average family does, talked about their day.</p><p>Murdoc says he got a new gig next Thursday, and Russel just hanged around the house and practiced his drum skills. </p><p>It was now Noodle’s turn to talk about her day.</p><p>“I met this girl today. Her name is Mary but she asked me to call her Green. We spray-painted with 2D and Ace, and then we exchanged phone numbers! She’s the first friend I make outside of school!”</p><p>Russel smiled “That’s great! Is she a good kid?”</p><p>“She’s pretty shy, so yeah, I guess”</p><p>“And is she pretty?” Murdoc added</p><p>“Yes, maybe? It depends. Or does it? um...” Noodle got suddenly very confused. Was Green pretty for her?</p><p>“shut up Mudz, she didn’t mean it like that.” </p><p>“hehe, sorry sorry”<br/>
_________________________________________________________________________</p><p>After dinner, Noodle waited for 2D to get home so they could watch some TV toghether and then go to bed, but it got late and, because he hadn’t arrived home yet, she had to go to sleep.</p><p>What is he even doing this late at night? doesn’t he have work tomorrow?</p><p>Noodle was a bit salty but didn’t mind it. 2D was an adult, after all. But how old was Ace? He looked very young. Like a teen, even.</p><p>She was already in bed by now, and after 2 minutes, she drifted to sleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yeah I threw Ace in there too<br/>__________________________________________</p><p>A note on the note: I'm currently working on the third chaptr for this, don't worry! ! I have big things planned for this fic, like very cool and good stuff (cough cough domestic life cough cough). It's going to take awhile for me to finish it because of school work and because I have to edit everything myself, but we'll get there!! </p><p> </p><p>If you still feel in need for more, you can check my tumblr for updates and ramblings!!!</p><p>the name: i-burned-my-toast </p><p>(Also, I trained my writing a bit and it's a lot better than the writing on these chapters so, look forward to that!!)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. School and Phone Calls</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Noodle goes to school. Friends are important.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>THE THIRD CHAPTER IS HERE YAAYY!!!</p>
<p>This took me a little longer to write since I was unhappy with my writing style and decided to make some changes, so here you go, enjoy the reading!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Noodle’s dreams were interrupted by the familiar beeping sound, and she slowly opened her eyes. It was 8 am, and her classes were starting in an hour. </p>
<p>If yesterday had been an average Sunday morning, today was an average Monday morning. Noodle already had the picture in her head: Getting herself dressed, checking to see if her homework was done properly, sprinting down the stairs to meet a very hungover Murdoc looking for something to eat, a sleepy 2D eating toast, and a happy Russel sipping on some coffee and reading the morning newspaper.</p>
<p>“おはよ,” Noodle said in a sleepy voice</p>
<p>“Good morning, Luv” Murdoc responded “had a good night’s sleep?”</p>
<p>Noodle nodded “yes, I don’t remember the dream I had though. Maybe something to do with trees….”</p>
<p>Russel put his coffee mug down “It’s already 8:23, if you don’t want to miss the bus you’d better get goin’.”</p>
<p>Noodle checked the clock on the kitchen wall, just to make sure, grabbed a piece of toast and dashed to the kitchen door.</p>
<p>“Bye-bye, I’ll see you at dinner! 2D, your tea’s spilling!”</p>
<p>2D let out a yelp when hot tea was spilled on his pants. He’d spaced out and stayed with the cup still in the air as if he’d take another sip at any moment. That, however, never happened.</p>
<p>_________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p>The bus was there at exactly 8:30 like it always did. Noodle entered the crowded vehicle and looked for an empty seat.</p>
<p>“Noods!”</p>
<p>Noodle looked up and smile, seeing her bes friend Natalie siting on the back of the bus smiling and waving her hand towards her.</p>
<p>“Come sit here,” she shouted “I’ve got gummy bears” she mouthed.</p>
<p>Noodle sat next to her friend, holding a hand open for a gummy bear.</p>
<p>“How was your weekend? Did anything special you’d want to tell me?” Natalie handed her a red gummy.</p>
<p>“Nothing much. I stayed at home and did the project Miss. Mel told us to do on Saturday, and on Sunday I went out to watch a zombie movie with my brother.” Noodle called 2D her brother, since she’s been living with him and the others for 6 years now, and he wouldn’t be exactly a “father figure”, so she settled for brother.</p>
<p>“oh yeah, and I met this girl on the skate park. I’m gonna call her later today.”</p>
<p>Natalie sighed “I wish my life was as exciting as yours. I don’t have an older sibling so I can’t go anywhere!”</p>
<p>“yes you can, you’re just too afraid of going out all by your own” Noodlemade a mischievous smile, “ cause you’re a chicken!” </p>
<p>“oh, piss off!! I just don’t like going out in public all by myself!”</p>
<p>The “fight” lasted the entire trip to the school, and by the time they got there, it was already 8:54.</p>
<p>They went inside along with the sea of middle school-age children, bumping into someone now and then.</p>
<p>The school’s corridors were plain and simple, lockers filling the wall with faded red color and blue tiles decorating the floor. Noodle’s locker number was 0103, on the second floor sice she was in the eighth grade. The younger kids stayed on the first floor. Natalie’s locker was just a couple of steps from her.</p>
<p>“Y’know, there have been some rumors going around that Marisa is dating a girl,” Marisa was an older classmate, she was in 9th grade and was a sporty girl.” the boys were calling her a ‘false girl’ if that even exists”</p>
<p>Noodle closed her locker and leaned into it with science and geography books in her hands “Maybe they are saying it like if she’s a boy in disguise?”</p>
<p>“Maybe...” Natalie responded, a pensive look o her face.</p>
<p>“I think that’s bullshit. My dad told me girls can like girls and boys can like boys too, so she doesn’t have to be a ‘false girl’ to date another girl.and even if she was i fact a boy, that’s none of our business anyway.” Noodle began walking to class 202, where a big sign reading “GEOGRAPHY” was taped on. Natalie followed.</p>
<p>“I guess you’re right...”</p>
<p>The rest of the day went by in a flash: they studied Latin America in Geography, the cardiovascular system in science, and algebra in math class. Lunch was a simple pickle and cheese sandwich. PE was boring, at most. Just stretching. And, finally, 4 pm rolled around and school was over. Noodle rode the bus home, saying goodbye to Natalie before jumping out.</p>
<p>Noodle went past the spooky cemetery straight to the front door. It wasn’t safe standing there at nighttime.</p>
<p>Inside, she found Russel sitting on the couch watching th news, and decided to join him.</p>
<p>“Good evening Russ, how was your day?” she smiled and hugged him as a form of greeting.</p>
<p>“It was alright. How about yours?” he responded with a calm voice and kind smile.</p>
<p>“Nothing much really happened. Just a normal Monday...” Noodle rested her face on her hands and watched as the newsman talked about a robbery just a couple of streets from there. She pondered about what’d happen if Murdoc was the thief and giggled at the imagery of him wearing a stereotypical robber outfit, like in the cartoons.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, someone called.”</p>
<p>Noodled looked up, a surprised look stamped on her once calm and dreamy face.</p>
<p>“Who?”</p>
<p>“Some girl. She asked for you and when I told her you weren’t home she told me to ask you to call later when you arrived. Do you know her?”</p>
<p>She smiled “Yes! Well, maybe. she might be the friend I met yesterday! I promised her to call after school, but apparently, her school ends earlier than mine.”</p>
<p>“then you should go call her, she sounded like she was excited.”</p>
<p>So Noodle was Green’s first friend outside school too. Great! They were sharing an experience!</p>
<p>“Ok!” Noodle ran towards the living room passage to the rest of the house “Oh! And what are we eating for dinner?” she stopped and looked at Russel.</p>
<p>“We don’t know yet. Murdoc said he wanted to cook this time.” Russel said still looking at the TV.</p>
<p>“Ok, I’ll ask him later then.” and she was gone.</p>
<p>_________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p>“3…..6…..4…. and 0. Ok, that’s her number.”</p>
<p>Noodle held her phone close to her ear, waiting for the beeps to stop and for someone to pick up. A minute or two passed by until someone finally picked up, the voice on the other side of the line was a very familiar one.</p>
<p>“Hello?”</p>
<p>“Hey, Green! It’s me, Noodle!!”</p>
<p>“Noodle!! You’re not dead!”</p>
<p>“So, sorry for not picking up the first time, my school ends at 16:00.”</p>
<p>“No, it’s ok, I figured.”</p>
<p>there was a small pause.</p>
<p>“So,” Noodle started “what do you want to talk about?”</p>
<p>“umm…” Green answered “Music, maybe. What do you like to listen to?”</p>
<p>“Ah, the normal stuff, rock, pop, zombie hip-hop...”</p>
<p>“What’s zombie hip-hop?”</p>
<p>Noodle smiled. Zombie hip-hop was what Murdoc called the genre their old band “Gorillaz” played. It was a mixture of rock, hip-hop, and a bunch of other things.</p>
<p>“Do you want me to explain?”</p>
<p>“If you don’t mind.”</p>
<p>“ok, so, my dad had a band in the early 2000s and…”</p>
<p>They talked about music for hours. zombie hip-hop leads to punk rock, which leads to instruments that led them to form a band. Noodle learned that Green wanted to play the bass.</p>
<p>“My dad knows how to play it. I can ask him to teach you.”</p>
<p>“That’d be fantastic!!”</p>
<p>“This weekend, deal?”</p>
<p>“Deal. I have to go now, It’s dinner time. Bye Noodz! Can I call you Noodz?”</p>
<p>“Sure, everyone calls me that.”</p>
<p>“Ok then. Bye!”</p>
<p>“Bye! Talk with you later!”</p>
<p>And they hung up.</p>
<p>_________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p>After doing her homework, Noodle sat down with her guitar and went right back into developing her songs. She was especially excited about a song called There. That song would be one of her first songs completely done by herself, no Murdoc recording a bassline for her, no Russel helping her with drums, no 2D doing keyboard arrangements. Just her. Noodle smiled at herself. She was feeling very proud and happy that she knew so much about music as to be able to “write an entire album”(Murdocs words).</p>
<p>But she didn’t have any intention of releasing her song to the public, no-no. Those songs would be very well tucked in inside a CD with the words ‘Demon Days’ scribbled in permanent markets, like the cassete the boys had with the demos and complete song from their failed self titled album called ‘Gorillaz’. Noodle had little participation in it, just helping with some missing vocals since Paula wasn’t in the band anymore.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, they didn’t have any luck with producers, even going as far as traveling to Jamaica to find someone, but it never happened. It was, indeed, a nice holiday, but they all got miserable with not finding a producer or an older guitarist.</p>
<p>“The real problem here is not the guitarist” she remembers Murdoc explaining for her and the band “Noodle is young but she can play the guitar like no other. Our problem here is that we <strong><em>can’t seem</em></strong> to find a good producer and that I’ve run out of rum. Give me that, faceache!!” He screamed at 2D and pointed to the glass bottle standing on the cupboard next to him. The singer got stunned for a bit but didn’t dare take any longer on giving the bassist the bottle. Murdoc chugged the whole thing in seconds.</p>
<p>Noodle finished stretching her hands and proceeded to take a look at her notes. O Green World cough her attention.</p>
<p>“I could put some voices…..maybe 2D’s voice will sound good on this, hm...” she starts to take notes. Some time passes, and a strang smell of herbs starts to intensify. Noodle pauses her musical shenanigans to go check what weird ritual Murdoc is doing or what exotic plant 2D and Russel are smoking now.</p>
<p>The smell guides her to the kitchen, where she finds herself delighted on the smell of roasted fish, various herbs, and garlic. It smells acidic. Murdoc’s standing in front of the stove, wearing an apron that says ‘Kiss The Cook’.</p>
<p>Noodle approaches him and asks: “What are you cooking for dinner today? Smells great!!”</p>
<p>Murdoc smiles in response and answers: “Roasted fish with herbs and Greek lemon potatoes. Just the good stuff to end the day well.” He goes back on checking a pot.</p>
<p>Big potato wedges are braising in a lemon-garlic broth, letting out an amazing acidic yet garlicky smell. Noodle looks inside the oven thru the glass, where 3 or 4 filets of tilapia are roasting. They look juicy and sparkly, with various herbs setting on top.</p>
<p>“They look beautiful, don’t they? It’s almost time to take them out and put the potatoes in there. I like to use the same tray, gives the potatoes a nice flavor.”</p>
<p>Murdoc doesn’t look like the type of person who’d cook, everyone agreed on that. Normally, people would assume 2D knew how to cook instead of him, little did they know the closest thing to “food” he knew how to make was instant noodles and toast. In compensation, he was almost a master of brewing tea and creating new mixtures of spices and herbs. “I haven’t perfected my technique yet, so I believe my tea is going to taste a lot better in some years,” he told her once.</p>
<p>Russel was also an amazing cook, always bringing new cookbooks and family recipes from his mom’s house and teaching them to Murdoc, who would maybe one day adapt them into his own thing. </p>
<p>At the end of the week, Murdoc and Russel would cook a Sunday lunch for them and 2D and Noodle would clean the table and do the dishes. When there were leftovers, that was their dinner, if not, they’d have Chinese food. So, for Noodle, Chinese food was family food.</p>
<p>Noodles brought back to reality when Murdoc taps her shoulder:</p>
<p>“Ahem” he clears his throat “I’ll need you to move for a bit while I finish dinner.”</p>
<p>“Ah! Sorry, I spaced out...” Noodle moved out of Murdoc’s way, wandering off back to her room. She sighs at the mess of paper and CD’s she left behind. She’s not really feeling like playing anymore, her fingers feel sore. She leaves the door open and scoots to her wardrobe, looking for a manga comic to read.</p>
<p>She hums while going thru the piles of unnecessary objects and lets out a pleased exclamation noise when she finds a copy of the latest volume of 少年は冒険に行く, exactly where she had put.</p>
<p>She lays down on her bed and waits for dinner to be ready.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Noodle's "manga" name literally translates to "young boy goes on adventures" and doesn't exist, I created a whole manga just for this scene because I couldn't find any shonen manga published in 2006, google's kinda fucked up. </p>
<p>Again, please check my Tumblr if you want updates and silly ramblings: <a href="">https://i-burned-my-toast.tumblr.com/</a></p>
<p>Greek lemon potato recipe: <a href="">recipetineats.com/greek-lemon-potatoes/</a></p>
<p>The roated fish recipe is my dad's :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. An announcement.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hello readers!</p><p>This is a quite sad announcement to make, but don't worry: I'm not canceling the fic, if you are enjoying it.</p><p>The big announcement is that I'm going into a temporary  (and short, I hope) hiatus.  Why? My laptop broke!! Yaaay... (I'm writing this on my tablet, in a uh, very incovinient way.)</p><p>I'll try to write in a piece of paper or a note book and then try to digitalize it here, but that'll take longer and, with all the online classes that my school added to give us a happy little end of the year surprise, it might take even longer.</p><p>Thank you so so so so SO much for reading this silly thing of mine, I really appreciate each and every one of you who decided to give this mess a try, and I'll see you in the next chapter. </p><p> </p><p>Sorry for the false alarm and thank you for reading, Fl0wers.</p><p>(Also, we got more than 100 hits!! Thank yooouu!!!)</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>He hiatus is no longer short bc the universe hates me, sorry , I was wrong. Check my works for a more detailed explanation (AND OH BOY ARE THERE DETAILS)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>